US President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping began their first conversation since March on Thursday, a call the White House says is intended to keep relations stable despite rising tensions over Taiwan and the war in Ukraine. The discussion is the fifth time the two presidents have spoken since Biden took office. The […]
Category: Foreign
Should Us trade Russian Arms Dealer for Griner, Whelan?
With basketball superstar Brittney Griner having faced yet another day in Russian court, pressure has mounted in Washington to sway President Joe Biden’s administration to offer the release of convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout in exchange for her freedom and that of another detained U.S. citizen, suspected spy Paul Whelan. CNN reported Wednesday that […]
Current World Order Is Over and New Era Is Coming, Warns Putin
Vladimir Putin has warned that “a new stage in world history” is coming in a speech in which he condemned “the model of total domination” by the West. During the address on Wednesday in Moscow, the Russian leader took a swipe at the populations of Western countries, which he described as the “golden billion”, and […]
Wildfires rage as record heatwave moves across Europe
Fires continue to run wild in countries across Europe, where a heatwave has intensified drought conditions. Though temperatures have cooled in France and the UK, firefighters are still tackling blazes in Greece, Spain and Italy. The fires in France’s badly-hit south-west have started to be brought under control. And as the heatwave moves north-east, low […]
Putin now has hypersonic missiles in play
Russia has completed testing of its long-range Zircon hypersonic cruise missile, and is set to put the weapon into use by the Russian Navy by the end of the year. State-run news agency TASS cited a source close to Russia’s military department as confirming the latest developments, which come as Moscow’s war in Ukraine grinds […]
Biden’s fist bump with crown prince worse than a handshake
It was a striking photograph. The US president and the man he’d called a pariah, bumping fists in the gilded splendour of Jeddah’s royal palace. Saudi Arabia was always going to be the controversial stop on Joe Biden’s first trip to the Middle East as US president. Just four weeks earlier, Mr Biden had said […]
Biden set to meet Saudi Crown Prince amid criticism
US President Joe Biden will meet Palestinian leaders in the occupied West Bank on Friday before he flies to a controversial summit in Saudi Arabia. His meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is likely to be strained, analysts say, after ties hit a low under the Trump administration. Later, Mr Biden will travel to Saudi […]
Why is there an economic crisis in Sri Lanka?
A state of emergency has been declared in Sri Lanka, and President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has fled the country. His departure follows months of mass protests over soaring prices and a lack of food and fuel. The country’s foreign currency reserves have virtually run dry, and it has already missed debt interest payments. The price of […]
Mass protest by Chinese bank depositors, demanding their life savings back crushed
Chinese authorities on Sunday violently dispersed a peaceful protest by hundreds of depositors, who sought in vain to demand their life savings back from banks that have run into a deepening cash crisis. Since April, four rural banks in China’s central Henan province have frozen millions of dollars worth of deposits, threatening the livelihoods of […]
Former Japanese PM Shinzo Abe assassinated during campaign speech
Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been assassinated in a shooting while giving a speech on a street in Nara in western Japan Friday morning, hospital officials confirmed hours later. Earlier Friday, Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida gave an emotional press conference where he said Abe, 67, was in “severe condition” and he hopes […]
U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson quits. Who will replace him?
A number of senior Conservative members of parliament may be considering running to become the next British prime minister after embattled incumbent Boris Johnson said on Thursday he would be resigning from his post. Johnson has been beset by a series of scandals during his premiership, including over parties that took place in Downing Street […]
Russia claims key victory in Luhansk
After more than four months of ferocious fighting, Russia claimed a key victory: full control over one of the two provinces in Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland. But Moscow’s rout of the last remaining bulwark of Ukrainian resistance in Luhansk province came at a steep price. The critical question now is whether Russia can muster enough […]